1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates broadly to the field of electronic computation, and more specifically to an improved multinode high density computing apparatus that may be utilized in a rack-mounted configuration or as a standalone unit.
2. Description of the Related Technology
Enterprise data centers such as large-scale corporate intranets and Internet servers often need to be located in urban or other expensive locations, because this is where broadband Internet access tends to be available. The administrators of such facilities are often allocated less space than would be ideal for their needs, and often rapidly outgrow the allocated space even if it is initially sufficient. As a result, a demand has developed in recent years for high density computing systems that will provide the requisite computing power, but will occupy a minimum of space. In addition to space constraints, system administrators demand price competitiveness from their vendors, along with reliability, availability and ease of maintenance.
Hardware manufacturers have responded to this demand by mounting server machines in racks that are configured according to the RETMA or EIA RS-310 standard, which provides mounting structure that is vertically spaced in increments commonly referred to as xe2x80x9cretmasxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cu""s,xe2x80x9d each of which is about 1.75 inches or 44.45 millimeters. A typical rack may have a 42 u vertical dimension, and this space may be occupied by components such as computing nodes, monitoring equipment and storage hardware. IBM for example offers a number of rack mounted products, such as the Netfinity(trademark) 4000R server, which has a 1 u form factor, and its Netfinity(trademark) EXP15 storage units, which have a form factor of 3 u. Other hardware manufacturer have similar, competitive products. Single node modular units such as the 4000R(trademark) have utility as so-called appliance servers, which are integrated software and hardware solutions that are designed for a dedicated service, such as web-hosting, caching, or firewall applications. Appliances are designed as turnkey solutions and are emerging as viable alternatives to general-purpose servers.
The term xe2x80x9cnodexe2x80x9d in the lexicon the industry means a discrete computer, which has a single system board having at least one CPU. In typical multinode parallel processing computing environments system integrators mount multiple computers or nodes such as the IBM 4000R(trademark) in a single rack. Despite the flexibility and density advantages of the rack configuration and the growing number of server nodes having a 1 u form factor, the available space in many instances remains inadequate for the task at hand. This is exacerbated by the space requirements for the necessary video/monitors, keyboard access and mouse access for each of the nodes, and for networking access to each node.
Multinode systems have been produced using so-called passive backplane architecture, using enclosures that have form factors of 3 u or more. Unfortunately, the need for vertical space in such systems is prohibitive of achieving true high-density configuration.
A need exists for an improved multinode high density computing apparatus that enables rack mountable solutions that are of higher computing density than have heretofore been available, and that is further relatively inexpensive.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide an improved multinode high density computing apparatus that enables rack mountable solutions that are of higher computing density than have heretofore been available, and that is further relatively inexpensive.
In order to achieve the above and other objects of the invention, a modular multinode computing apparatus according to a first aspect of the invention includes a rack mountable enclosure; more than one system board secured within the enclosure in a high density configuration, each of the system boards constituting a separate computing node; and connecting structure provided on the enclosure for accessing the computing nodes.
According to a second aspect of the invention, a modular multinode computing apparatus includes a rack mountable enclosure, more than one computing node secured within the enclosure in a high density configuration; and connecting structure provided on the enclosure for accessing the computing nodes.
A multinode computing apparatus according to a third aspect of the invention includes an enclosure; more than one computing node secured within the enclosure in a high density configuration that has a form factor of no more than 2 u; and connecting structure provided on the enclosure for accessing the computing nodes.
According to a fourth aspect of the invention, a multinode computing apparatus includes an enclosure; more than one computing node secured within the enclosure in a high density configuration so that more than one of the computing nodes are positioned in substantially the same plane; and connecting structure provided on the enclosure for accessing the computing nodes.
A multinode computing apparatus according to a fifth aspect of the invention includes an enclosure; more than one computing node secured within the enclosure in a high density configuration; more than one power supply positioned within the enclosure, each of the power supplies being dedicated to one of the computing nodes; and connecting structure provided on the enclosure for accessing the computing nodes.
These and various other advantages and features of novelty that characterize the invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed hereto and forming a part hereof However, for a better understanding of the invention, its advantages, and the objects obtained by its use, reference should be made to the drawings which form a further part hereof, and to the accompanying descriptive matter, in which there is illustrated and described a preferred embodiment of the invention.